Basic+ Word of the Day: cover

cover (verb, noun) past tense: covered

"It's cold today. We're staying under the covers."

Cover means ‘to place something upon for protection or warmth, or to hide it.’

• Phil covered his sportscar with a blanket every night.
• We could not see the mountain because it was covered by clouds.
• Paula covered her shoulders with a sweater.

Cover also means ‘to deal with.’

• The introductory class covers 18th century French poetry.
• The new law covers sexual harrassment issues.

A cover is a blanket or similar item.

• The bedroom was so warm that Rachel threw off her covers.
• The gardener placed a cover over the orange tree to protect it from cold weather.

Common uses

cover a song: perform a song that was previously performed by another artist. Example: “Many singers have covered Barbra Streisand songs.”

Related words

undercover: concealing your identity to gain access to secret information. Example: “The spy went undercover to learn about the terrorist plan.”

In pop culture

Rolling Stone Magazine published a list of the 100 Greatest Album Covers. An album cover is the front packaging of a music album. First on their list is The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Listen to the title song. If you’d like to see the other album covers that made the list, click here.

There are other meanings of cover.